Been there!
And it all came flooding back this morning when I herd a spot on the news, talking about how parents should begin educating their children about racism, as early as 3 months, lest the sin take root in their souls.
I can’t say I have many memories going back to 3 months, but I must’ve been, maybe 4, when our devoutly religious— I reckon the word is “nanny” though it seems ridiculous cuz that word evokes Mary Poppins and AA Milne, and this very dear lady was a mountain girl—told me, matter of factly, that “The Tempter” was inside my head! And whatever I thought “I” wanted to do might actually be the evil one’s idea.
We were getting dressed to go play I the snow, and I was paralyzed by this revelation. It wasn’t a rebuke; I wasn’t doing anything naughty at the moment. She turned around and asked why I hadn’t zipped up my snowsuit. ‘Because it might be the Tempter telling me to do it,” I said. She laughed—even though that was exactly what she had told me just a few seconds before .
It made me doubt my emerging self. I knew I hadn’t invited the Devil inside me! Honest I didn’t, I KNEW he was evil—yet he was in me, and could fool me into thinking something he wanted was something I wanted?!? How could I trust me? How could I trust anybody?
The Tempter is invisible, nobody can see him—but he’s THERE! He’s everywhere!
Okay now go back and read “systemic racism” for “The tempter”
I suffered and am still suffering the effects of this terrible self-doubt, inculcated in 4 year old me, I knew and know, with nothing but the most loving motives .
But it was and remains child abuse, no matter who the Invisible Enemy is believed to be.
ST UnWoked & UnVaxxed! 
Amen, dear Hyp, amen! I’m praying against the psychological – at least – carnage when these self-hating, categorizing, marginalizing young’uns are let loose in the world….
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“And it all came flooding back this morning when I herd a spot on the news, talking about how parents should begin educating their children about racism, as early as 3 months, lest the sin take root in their souls.”
What an idiotic statement! The best way to teach your young kids not to “see color” is to ignore the subject completely. My parents never brought up the topic and I happily played with black children at summer camp without a second thought. I didn’t “know any better.”
Racial division occurs not only because it is deliberately provoked by the libs and the MSM but also because it disregards socio-economic differences. People naturally mingle with neighbors and those who share their cultural/religious/social values. What’s wrong with this if we are all able to co-exist peacefully?
Look at the animal kingdom. Giraffes are not hanging with elephants. 🙂
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One more thought because I’ve lost all patience with my country.
We waste so much money on social engineering that never works because it doesn’t acknowledge human nature. Today, I returned from a trip only to discover a $1400 dollar check from the IRS in my mailbox as a part of Biden’s 3 trillion dollar Covid impetus. Don’t think I wasn’t happy to get it- I’ve been supporting so many people for so long, I regarded this as a minor rebate for my financial contributions to Never, Never Land.
But yet, what an asinine gesture to send two independently employed people with no kids a check?
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We’re in the anteroom of Bizarro World, aren’t we?
Time for me to identify as 5’1″ and ambulatory, isn’t it? 😀
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The best way to teach your young kids not to “see color” is to ignore the subject completely. My parents never brought up the topic and I happily played with black children at summer camp without a second thought. I didn’t “know any better.”
Great point. Racism has to be taught.
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Too many Christians want to see the devil hiding behind every bush. It is a damned shame what your nanny did to you, and it is good that you have recalled it and shared it with us. Now the mature Hypatia needs to let her inner child move on even all these too many years of having internalized and carried that message within. Too many Christians fail to understand the meaning of the “as a roaring lion” part of this Bible passage. The devil is less than a toothless lion but we give him the power to destroy. I am sorry for you about this but life is hard and unfair for all of us; then we die. Not even the well to do escape the unnecessary suffering inflicted upon us by our fellow man, even though sometimes unintentionally. I hope writing about this will have given you the right to let it go.
1 Peter 5:8
King James Version
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
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I think most lay Christians’ concept of the Devil is Manichean: that he is an evil,principle equally powerful to God. It’s actually heretical to believe that; we’re supposed to believe the Devil is a created being.
To the contrary, when you read the Book of Job (then only place tSatan appears in the OT) and the account of Christ’s temptation, it’s very difficult not to conclude that Satan is acting in God’s service, as he does on those two occasions.
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Christians are the biggest threat to Christianity.
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Off for my morning dip in the sea. Bye for now and may the Lord bless y’all and lift up his countenance upon thou.
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I am so sorry that this happened to you, Hypatia. I don’t have children, so I have never had to deal with this, but how should believers go about explaining concepts like the devil and hell to children?
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Hey listen! If the doctrine is true, and you believe it’s true, then you SHOULD preach hellfire and damnation and the Evil One to your children as soon as they can comprehend it. It’s the only kind thing to do, because what is this brief mortal lifespan compared to ETERNITY? What if they die in childhood without having understood that they are sinners and having repented? You have dammed them to suffering WITHOUT END.
I’m not being sarcastic here; that’s the way it is. And I get that.
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“I don’t have children, so I have never had to deal with this, but how should believers go about explaining concepts like the devil and hell to children?”
There is yet another approach that my father used to explain the consequences of immoral behavior: “the Hell on Earth” theory that seemed to work for his kids. The death penalty is not succeeding in deterring crime because defendants can appeal for decades!
In other words, young minds have a tendency to live in the moment and are not impressed by future consequences. My father wasn’t either and often emphasized that drugs, theft, etc. will affect your ability to matriculate at colleges, find a job or marry well meaning one can and is most likely to suffer consequences in the present.
His advice had an impact.
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I don’t know if there is a way to explain concepts like the devil and hell without scaring children at least a little, but degrees matter. It is crucial for the child to understand that God is so much bigger than the devil is, and that God will protect them. The child should also understand that the child is bigger than the devil is.
When I was about 4, my father actually told me something very similar to what your nanny told you, but my reaction was very different. I went downstairs one night because I couldn’t sleep, and I told my Dad that I was afraid that the devil would get me. My father told me that the devil was not some monster hiding under my bed: my Dad said the devil was our own capacity to do wrong, and that the devil exists only in our minds. As an adult, I am inclined to disagree with my Dad about that, but he was telling me what he believed and it had the desired effect of calming my fears. I felt that if the devil existed only in my mind, then I could control him, the only power he could have over me would be the power I gave him, and I could choose to give him none. It is very possible-likely-that my Dad explained that to me, but I don’t remember.
This is a very sensitive topic, and different kids will react differently to these ideas. The main problem is when some Christians make the devil out to be far more powerful than he is.
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But, at the end of the day, Simon is always right. 🙂 It seems that most Christian theologians disagree with Hypatia’s nanny and my Dad. Virtually all of the Protestant Ministers I found on google stated that the devil cannot read our thoughts, and this Catholic priest, who is an exorcist, agrees with them about that: https://spiritualdirection.com/2013/08/29/can-demons-read-our-thoughts
So, Hypatia, both your nanny and my Dad were wrong.
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Thanks Judy, but my main point is I know how it feels to be told, as a child, that you can’t trust yourself, you were born a sinner, and nothing you do can eradicate it.
My subject was the cruel and insane idea of teaching critical race theory for toddlers: this is exactly what Is being done to children NOW, except the “original sin” is being white.
I wonder how parents born into the Untouchables under the Indian Caste system broke it to their child that he was born to scoop shit and could never aspire to anything more pleasant?
If The NY Times ha itS way, the children of the Woke White will be told they were born to an oppressor class and are inherently unjust and evil. If they deny those characteristics, that only proves they are harboring them. They must spend their whole lives atoning.
I feel for these poor kids, is what I was saying.
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I understand. I find it difficult to picture most parents going along with this hatred, but some will, and yes, it is definitely child abuse.
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